EDUCATION KIT | ARTIST FOLIOS
WEN PULIN
ZANG HONGHUA
CHINA
Seven Sins:
Seven Performances
during the 1989 China
Avant-Garde Exhibition,
1989–2009
China Action, 1999
Ling Long Tower, 2015
PLEASE NOTE:
The film works screened in this gallery are rated M18/ NC16
for mature content. Viewer discretion is advised.
WEN PULIN | ZANG HONGHUA
Seven Sins: Seven Performances during the 1989 China Avant-Garde Exhibition,
1989–2009 | China Action, 1999 | Ling Long Tower, 2015
EDUCATION KIT
ARTIST FOLIOS
THE ARTISTS
THE IDEA
Wen Pulin (b. 1957, Shenyang, China) is an art critic,
These three films document the Chinese art world from
writer, independent producer and documentary
the 1980s to 2011 in a humorous and witty style, and
filmmaker. Since the 1980s, he has documented the
record many cherished and critical moments in the
development of Chinese contemporary art in the form
development of Chinese contemporary art. Wen Pulin’s
of the moving image, photography, interviews and
Seven Sins: Seven Performances during the 1989 China
texts. Wen also lived in Tibet for many years and made
Avant-Garde Exhibition presents seven spontaneous
many documentaries about Tibetan culture. In 2005,
acts performed at the National Art Museum of China
he established the Wen Pulin Archive of Chinese Avant-
on 5 February 1989, including Xiao Lu’s gun-shooting
Garde Art at Cornell University, USA and, in 2007, the
performance Dialogue, which stirred interest in
similarly-named archive at the University of California,
international art circles. China Action is another of Wen’s
San Diego. He lives and works in Beijing.
signature works, documenting the Beijing-centred yet
nationally influential art movements of the 1980s and
Zang Honghua (b. 1977, Yantai, China) is a documentary
1990s, with a particular focus on the emergence of
film director and curator who graduated from the Beijing
performance art and its impact on contemporary art.
Film Academy in the discipline of Fine Arts. Since
Ling Long Tower by Zang Honghua is inspired by Wen’s
2007, she has been working in the field of archiving
two films and investigates the Songzhuang Artists
contemporary art and exhibition curation. She has
Village in Beijing.
curated exhibitions such as ‘Datong Dazhang’ (Power
Station of Art, Shanghai, 2016), ‘Ling Long Tower
Songzhuang + Yunnan Exhibition of Young Artists’
(Kunming Yuanxiaocen Art Museum, China, 2010) and
‘In the 1980s: Wen Pulin Archive of Chinese Avant-Garde
Art Exhibition’ (Shanghai Duolun Museum of Modern
Art, 2009). She lives and works in Beijing.
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WEN PULIN | ZANG HONGHUA
Seven Sins: Seven Performances during the 1989 China Avant-Garde Exhibition,
1989–2009 | China Action, 1999 | Ling Long Tower, 2015
THE ARTWORK
Seven Sins: Seven Performances during the 1989
China Avant-Garde Exhibition, 1989–2009
Single-channel video
Duration 51:52 mins
Collection of the Artist
China Action, 1999
EDUCATION KIT
Single-channel video
Duration 56:39 mins
ARTIST FOLIOS
Collection of the Artist
Ling Long Tower, 2015
Single-channel video
Duration 1:32:31 mins
Collection of the Artist
Image courtesy of Singapore Art Museum
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OBSERVE AND DISCOVER
GUIDING QUESTIONS
SUGGESTED ACTIVITIES
1. Take some time to watch the documentary films.
A. Find out more about the artists and the inspiration
What do you think the films are about? How did you
behind the documentary films. Having found out
come up with that explanation?
about the artist’s circumstances, how do you now feel
about the documentary films? Can you relate to the
2. What are some of the changes you observe taking
place in these short films? What issues do you think
the artists are trying to highlight?
3. The three documentary films record Chinese
performance art at different stages. All three
WEN PULIN
ZANG HONGHUA
Seven Sins: Seven
Performances during the
1989 China Avant-Garde
Exhibition, 1989–2009
China Action, 1999
Ling Long Tower, 2015
documentary films act like mirrors that reflect
one another. What aspects of the films interest
you most?
4. Try to watch one of the films for as long as possible.
What do you think is happening in this documentary?
Why do you suppose the artist was interested to
make this? Was it in reaction to something?
5. One of the films by Wen Pulin is titled China Action.
Does the title add to your understanding of the
documentary film? Why or why not?
6.Compare Ling Long Tower by Zang Honghua to the
documentary film Memory of the Blind Elephant by
Vietnamese artist Nguyen Phuong Linh (on display
at SAM). What are some of the similarities and
differences you can find in terms of the film making
and the artists’ intentions?
7. If you could, what questions would you like to ask
the artists?
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issues faced by the artists? Give a small presentation
to share your findings to the class.
FIND OUT MORE
UP CLOSE AND PERSONAL
Taipei Times. Documenting art and culture. Retrieved
October 31, 2016, from http://www.taipeitimes.com/News/
Widewalls. Wen Pulin. Retrieved October 31, 2016,
feat/archives/2015/03/13/2003613415/2
from http://www.widewalls.ch/artist/wen-pulin
DAIc. Chiayi City International Art Documentary Film
WEN PULIN
ZANG HONGHUA
Seven Sins: Seven
Performances during the
1989 China Avant-Garde
Exhibition, 1989–2009
Cornell University. A Short Biography of Wen Pulin.
Festival: Art for Everyone. Retrieved October 31, 2016,
Retrieved October 31, 2016, from
from http://www.digiarts.org.tw/english/News_Content.
http://asia.library.cornell.edu/Wen/pulin.php
aspx?n=1740ACA76BD509B7&s=24DE918AD5BA4F01
ARTWORK
http://southorg.wixsite.com/ciadff/waves-in-heat-c1vaf
Cornell University Library. Wen Pulin archive of Chinese
Harvard Film Archive. The Urban Generation: Chinese
avant-garde art. Retrieved October 31, 2016, from
Cinema and Society in Transformation. Retrieved October
http://goldsen.library.cornell.edu/special/wen.php
31, 2016, from http://hcl.harvard.edu/hfa/films/2001janfeb/
urban.html
China Action, 1999
Ling Long Tower, 2015
CIADFF. Waves in Heat. Retrieved October 31, 2016, from
Red Brick Art Museum. Wen Pulin Archive of Chinese
Avant-Garde Art of the 1980s and 1990s. Retrieved
October 31, 2016, from http://redbrickartmuseum.org/
VIDEO
en/exhibition/detail/c8bcoy
Vimeo. Wen Pulin – Chinese Hipsters in the 1980s.
Deseret News. Police block events ahead
Retrieved October 31, 2016, from
of Tiananmen anniversary.
https://vimeo.com/140757146
Retrieved October 31, 2016, from
http://www.deseretnews.com/article/705282945/Police-
Vimeo. In Search of Wen Pulin (NO U-TURN).
block-events-ahead-of-Tiananmen-anniversary.html
Retrieved October 31, 2016, from
https://vimeo.com/3835711
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ABOUT SINGAPORE BIENNALE 2016
AN ATLAS OF MIRRORS
AT ONCE, MANY WORLDS
EDUCATION KIT
ARTIST FOLIOS
FROM WHERE WE ARE,
HOW DO WE PICTURE THE WORLD ­—
AND OURSELVES?
Humankind has always devised ways of seeing
beyond sight. Two such instruments are the map
and the mirror, which make visible more than
just physical terrains. While the atlas – a book of
maps – locates where we are and charts where
we want to go, the mirror shows us to ourselves,
sometimes unreliably, and in curious ways.
Through an exploration of the literal and
metaphorical characteristics of atlas and mirror,
An Atlas of Mirrors reveals artistic perspectives
that arise from our migratory, intertwining
histories and cultures, particularly in Southeast,
East and South Asia.
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ABOUT THE ZONES
NINE
CONCEPTUAL
ZONES
The main title of the Biennale is woven through nine
• AGENCY & THE LIMITS OF REPRESENTATION
‘conceptual zones’, or subthemes, which locate each
• SITES & VOICES OF RESISTANCE
artwork in particular curatorial contexts. These zones
• SELF & OTHER
shape the flow of the Biennale experience, like chapters
EDUCATION KIT
ARTIST FOLIOS
in a book or sections in a poem. Like the title – ‘An Atlas
Against the odds, Davids frequently battle Goliaths,
of Mirrors’ – which is built on the relationship between
but not all Davids survive. Nonetheless, the evolving
a collective noun (“an atlas” as the collective noun) and
roles and forms of art enable the conscience-plagued
what is being thought of ‘collectively’ (“mirrors”), these
to take a deep breath and hold fast to ideals. Carved
zones are conceptually themed along specific collective
‘prison soap’ bars mosaic the map of Myanmar on
nouns and what they hold together for contemplation
a dark floor; forgotten Indian convict labourers in
and experience. Artworks located within each zone
Singapore from over a century ago are pledged a walk-
resonate on many levels, and at the same time, all nine
performance in their honour; and precious space is
zones coincide, intertwine and reflect each other along
shaped for discourse on the world today at a Malaysian
the conceptual continuum of ‘An Atlas of Mirrors’ as
artist-made-and-run ‘café’.
a whole.
Encountering injustice, selves resist, sometimes acting
Each zone represents concepts, ideas and ways of seeing
on behalf of others, often at personal costs; yet the
as explored in the 58 artworks and projects.
silenced, in finding their voice and agency, also face the
limits of representation.
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© 2016 Singapore Art Museum | © 2016 Individual contributors
All works are © the artists unless otherwise stated. Information correct at the time of publication. All rights reserved.
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